“NorthRiver had a documented exposure event involving patient-related billing records,” she said. “Not full medical charts, but sufficient personally identifiable information to trigger mandatory reporting obligations. The exposure appears tied to inadequate internal access controls and vendor-side configuration failures. If you’re in regional operations, you either knew about it and chose to spend dinner mocking me anyway, or you didn’t know, which is considerably worse.”
Kayla lowered her wine glass slowly.
Trevor’s expression moved from unease to something closer to alarm. “Dad?”
Raymond forced a laugh. It sounded thin. “Sweetheart, companies have audits all the time. That’s just business.”
“An audit and an exposure event are not the same thing,” Leah said.
Denise found her voice: “Leah, that’s enough.”
Leah turned to her. “No, Mom. Enough was when he decided I was his punchline for the evening.”
The look on Denise’s face was the one Leah knew best and resented most: not disagreement, but the particular panic of someone who has been caught in the gap between what they feel and what they are willing to say out loud.